1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of the invention relate to vertical mount packages for integrated circuits or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices.
2. Description of the Related Art
Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) devices can include one or more of mechanical elements, sensors, and actuators formed on a substrate, such as a silicon substrate, through micro fabrication technology. Such MEMS devices in a state before packaging can also be referred to as a “MEMS die” in the context of this document. In this document, “dies” is used as a plural form of “die,” but “dice” can also be used as a plural form.
MEMS dies are typically placed in a package (hereinafter, referred to as “MEMS package”) to protect the MEMS dies and facilitate electrical connection to larger electronic devices. Such MEMS packages are often designed to be mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB) or similar interface for larger devices. A MEMS package can be encapsulated or overmolded, but often will instead include a casing defining a cavity to contain a MEMS die, bond pads for electrical connection to the MEMS die, leads for electrical connection to a larger device, and interconnects for electrical connection between the bond pads and the leads. A MEMS die is attached to a mounting surface of the MEMS package, and can be electrically connected to the bond pads, e.g., via bond wires. The cavity can be defined in various ways, such as a substrate (e.g., PCB) and metal “can” or three-dimensional lid, a molded package with integrated substrate and walls with a planar lid, etc.
Other devices, such as application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) for processing MEMS signals and/or memory chips, can be similarly packaged for protection and to facilitate electrical connection of devices to larger electrical circuits. Such IC dies can be independently packaged or packaged together with MEMS devices.
Most packages are designed to mount onto larger boards with the die parallel to the mounting board. Dies that are to be mounted vertically with respect to the mounting surface, such as gyroscopes and other MEMS motion sensors, present additional challenges for efficient component manufacturing and assembly of packages.